The first Medrash Rabbah in Parshas Bechukosai links the opening pasuk of the parsha, “If you will follow My decrees and observe My commandments and perform them; then I will provide your rains in their time, and the land will give its produce and the tree of the field will give its fruit” (Bamidbar 26:3) with the pasuk in Tehillim “I considered my ways and returned my feet to Your testimonies.” (Tehillim 119:59).
The Medrash comments: Dovid said, “Master of the Universe, every single day I make a mental calculation and say to myself that I am going to such and such a place.” [Here the Medrash is concentrating on the expression Im bechukosai teleichu (if you will walk in My statutes). This is a strange expression. We might expect it to say “If you will observe My statutes.” Based on the use of the verb teleichu (walk), the Medrash cites the pasuk in Tehillim which relates that each morning Dovid HaMelech would wake up and think to himself of all the places where he was going to go that day.] But, says the Medrash, Dovid concluded that despite his thoughts and plans, his feet would always bring him to Houses of Prayer and Study.
That is the Medrash Rabbah as we have it. The Kesav Sofer, however, quotes a different version of this same Medrash. In the version that the Kesav Sofer cites, Dovid HaMelech says that every morning he woke up planning to go to the theaters, the circuses, and the stadiums, but instead his feet took him to the Houses of Prayer and Study.
We can better understand Dovid waking up in the morning and saying “I need to go shopping, I need to go to Walmart, I need to go here, I need to go there, etc.” We can understand some optional errands on his agenda that would take him here and there. But why would Dovid HaMelech want to go into the theaters and circuses and stadiums? This is harder for us to understand. Why would he want to do that?
The Kesav Sofer says that Chazal say that in future times, all stadiums and theaters are going to be converted into Houses of Study and Prayer. Dovid HaMelech is saying “Ribono shel olam, I can’t wait for that day to happen. I want to be able to go to the CONVERTED theaters and stadiums.”
The Ribono shel olam says “No! That will only happen in the distant future. In the meantime, your feet will take you to the real Houses of Study and Prayer.”
There is a famous vort from the Chofetz Chaim. At a Siyum Masechta we say “We toil and they toil; we toil and receive reward, they toil and do not receive reward, we run and they run...” The Chofetz Chaim asked “Who cares that ‘they run’? Who cares how ‘they toil’?” He gives the following answer: If someone wants to know what true toil is – look at them! If someone wants to know what true passion is – look at them! This is the type of intensity and commitment we need to bring to our own avodas HaShem.
That, says the Kesav Sofer, is the interpretation of this Medrash, according to his version of the text.
